If you've ever been browsing through the library of games available to you on Xbox Game Pass, or searching for something to buy on the Xbox Games Store, and wondered what the subtitle options would be before purchasing only to find there's no way of discovering that sort of information, Microsoft hears you.
Xbox director of accessibility Anita Mortaloni has announced that Xbox is in the process of adding accessibility tags to its digital store. The aim of the new tags is to allow players with disabilities will to more simply and clearly know if a game has settings that make it possible for them to know which games they can play.
Genshin Impact is soon to recieve a pretty huge content drop thanks to the launch of version 2.2 and the Into the Perilous Labyrinth of Fog update, which is due to arrive in the game October 13.
As per a new update over on the PlayStation Blog, developer miHiYo is due to push out an update that introduces the final location in the six major islands of Inazuma, as well as a new playable character called Thoma, and some brand new challenges and mini-games, too.
It's a pretty substantial update, then, as studio technical director Zhenzhong Yi explains in a press release:
Go on a vacation adventure with Frosty. Try to find as many shells as you can, avoid jellyfish, and catch ice cream cones! How many shells can you find?...
What's up all? We have another great giveaway from Giveaway.su for Memory Booster. Read on for their offering. A new giveaway of a new game! Today we are giving away 5000 Steam keys for "Memory Booster" game. There are thousands of users who wants to claim free key, so hurry up to grab one! Steam account with level 1 account and Discord account are required to get the key from th...
What's up folks? We have another remarkable offer from Alienware Arena for Adventures of Chris. Let's hear them out. Adventures of Chris Free Play Weekend Key Giveaway Embark on a global adventure in this '90s-inspired adventure platformer! Play Adventures of Chris for free on Steam until October 11th when the game will leave your library. A few words about Adventures of Chris Em...
Video Game News, Reviews, Walkthroughs And Guides | GamingBolt 16:44
Sony has begun testing free game trials on PlayStation 5, allowing users to play a few hours of games before purchasing them – but it's not a perfect service just yet.
World of Warships: Legends introduces the first campaign with a ship of choice as the ultimate prize. It's backed by a Halloween event, split into two parts, and more new ships! Element of Choice Campaign The headliners of Element of Choice, Tier VII Premium destroyers Friesland and Loyang, are both quite unique. Pan-European Friesland doesn't […]
New World taps into older MMORPG conventions to create something that feels new today, a stark contrast to other genre titles that ferry players through a linear and unified experience. Instead, New World challenges players to forge their path in player vs. player territory control, extensive crafting and gathering, and standard questing monster hunting. New World excels in the crafting and gathering department, with incredibly satisfying and meaningful progression to make your gear and help out your friends that may specialize in other crafts than yourself.
Want to do it all? You can. With New World's skill system, you only need one character that can learn to do anything and everything, given enough time and resources. Putting the finishing touches on your first masterful craft feels fantastic. The player-driven economy also feels lovely, as unloading your bags back at your homestead for a few coins fuels the engine further. While the traditional monster mashing and questing are beyond mundane here, the other aspects of the game – crafting, gathering, progression of all kinds, and social focus – make the game feel compelling and exceptional today, even if these concepts were popular years ago on the MMO scene.
What is New World, anyway? It's a low-fantasy MMORPG that's skill-based. I don't mean that you need to be good to play it, but rather that you get better at what you do, similar to something like Skyrim. Runescape is probably the go-to title to describe the crafting mechanisms that run behind New World. Players become experts by doing, not through traditional level-ups. Hit a rock, and you get better at hitting rocks and can mine better rocks. Chopping trees, harvesting plants, fishing; whatever you want to do, every pursuit is worth becoming great at. Of course, with your packs full of raw materials, it's time to turn them into processed goods. I was somewhat skeptical that the hooks here would last, but 80 hours into a crafting and gathering focus, I'm still stopping to harvest everything in sight. New World taps into the "numbers go up" dopamine hit as few games can. In fact, there's no need to do much fighting in New World if this is your focus – you gain excellent experience from honing your craft, and the majority of my experience points have come from becoming skilled in my crafting efforts. Skinning your first few wolves may not get you invested, but once you have some powerful gathering tools (that you made yourself, rolling incredible modifiers on) and taking on bears for huge swathes of leather and fur, you'll start to see just how enchanting crafting can be.
These systems all feed into one another, encouraging players to dip their toes into a multitude of crafting pursuits. A flint pickaxe isn't exciting. A starmetal pickaxe that you handcrafted with a bevy of modifiers and can shred through resource nodes in moments makes resource running a zen-like experience. Making excellent gear for yourself and your friends, whether that's a mighty pouch to hold more as you wander the world or a magnanimous musket, feels great. If you enjoy crafting and gathering, New World is an absolute slam dunk in this department, with systems that make your time and experience feel meaningful as you progress up the levels and zones. The fantasy of living off the land and forging your path to greatness is often explored in survival games, but New World takes the concept and turns it into an MMORPG bonanza that is incredibly enjoyable.
Let's talk about another game. Dark Age of Camelot is probably the gold standard in the MMORPG world for coordinated territorial player-vs-player "realm vs. realm" pursuits. Still, many gamers today probably weren't around when it was a big deal. There are three factions in New World, and they battle over territory constantly, culminating in instanced 50v50 wars for town takeovers. While my first war experience was fairly intense, the small-scale skirmishes that happen in the minute-to-minute gameplay are still the best part of PVP here. A note, you must be flagged for PVP to participate, so all PVP is consensual and opt-in. Taking on a small group of players while you're out harvesting 1000 linen can be more exciting than you think, with musket balls and hatchets flying everywhere as you try to take out a player and make a strategic retreat to a treeline. Yes, PVP can devolve into a numbers game zerg fest out in the open world, but if things get too heated, you can easily turn your PVP flag off in town and go about your business. After all, those trees aren't going to chop themselves down. These experiences are, like many others in New World, better with a friend or two. Whether or not you decide to shack up with a big company, you're going to play a part in the territory war on your server. Though, like crafting and gathering, your level of engagement with this aspect of the game is up to you.
This is probably the right time to talk about another element of the game that's also rarer in today's MMORPG scene. Social aspects. Yes, you're going to have to talk to other players to form dungeon groups. Yes, there is a global chat where you can spout anything and everything. Yes, big companies (guilds) are bound to have tons and tons of drama. I was in a World of Warcraft guild that saw lives ravaged by divorces and deceit – all fueled and looped into in-game activities. When you open your game up to social experiences, not everyone is going to talk about the fish they're catching or the weather, and you also might be thrust into various scenarios with lots of screaming, posturing, and inane blather. Of course, you can turn to chat off in-game and not hop on Discord to participate in other activities, so some of this is opt-in, but overall it is an aspect of the game that feels refreshing.
Obviously, no one wants to hear someone's horrible hate on other players, but actual player-to-player communication has been overly sterilized in MMORPGs and online gaming in general. Well, now's your chance to be a little chatter bug again, and it feels pretty damn good. Make something cool? Show it off in chat or sell it! Make friends with a tank from the other faction to get a dungeon done. Maybe if you see that person later in the world in a PVP scenario, head in full view of a primed sniper shot, you'll stay your hand and slink off in the bushes unnoticed instead. I did. After all, he was a good tank, even if he is in that nasty guild that we're fighting every day. In an online gaming world where many communication tools have been systemically removed to prevent harassment and promote safety, it almost feels like a radical act promoting and encouraging open dialogue between players – and it feels kind of nice to have a social interaction inside a game world again. Problem players are ostensibly dealt with via a report system, which is easy to use.
So, traditional player vs. environment, or killing ghosts and bears and all that, is probably the weakest element of New World. Traditional dungeons and public quest portal battles offer some variance outside of taking out hordes of boring foes, but none of the standard enemy battles stand out compared to experiences offered by other MMOs today. Enemies are rather uninteresting, and you'll be battling the same skeletons and zombies for many of your days. The first time you see a giant crocodile is pretty cool, sure, but eventually, your mind realizes that that big critter is just a vessel for leather supplies.
I'll be as clear as I can here. If you want to play a game with good questing and monster battling, this isn't the game. Almost every quest is uninspired fetch or "kill ten rats" fare. While the other elements of the game make this entirely forgivable for me, it's essential to know that you will probably not have a satisfying traditional PVE experience here.
While criticism of the lack of enemy variety and their rather generic nature is warranted, New World has some beautiful scenery that weaves its way well into the whole experience of traveling this dangerous land. Surprisingly, one element that stands out is each territory's environmental design. Rooted in reality in terms of flora and fauna, it can be challenging to create defined areas that have their look and feel, but New World pulls it off here, with zones ranging from the prosperous and pastoral new player areas to sunken swamps and haunted hills. After a while, you can tell which territory you're in just by the aesthetics, which is pretty cool. The environments are gorgeous, with day/night cycles creating some incredible picturesque moments under the stars.
And, if for some reason, you're stepping into a player-centric MMORPG for a story, you're not going to get anything interesting there either. Games with player economies, open-world PVP, and territory battles often tell their tales in the moment-to-moment player experience, and New World is no different. It's the legendary fish you catch and show off to your guildmates. It's the 8-hour battle for a fort that creates a permanent rivalry between two companies and the way the server has to live with that constant conflict. And sometimes, it's just a quaint moment in the woods where you slaughter a turkey to cook it up later. The story is being told in every action you take and participate in, but it's not a traditional narrative that adds up to anything worth engaging with. Lore does exist, but it's often attached to notes and ledgers that are not really convenient or fun to read.
New World takes an amalgamation of features and mechanics from MMOs of yesteryear and packages them up in a way that feels new today. While it's a bit of a Frankenstein monster in terms of the various directions a player can go, the almost unfettered freedom is unbelievably welcoming in a world where MMO experiences have become more and more linear. If you like crafting and gathering with chunky progression systems, New World is a must-play. If you have a few friends (or a lot of them) and you love player-vs-player server conflict and a bit of drama, New World is a must-play. If you want a great story or interesting quests, New World is not your game. If you are an old-school MMO player who has bemoaned the genre's direction in the last 15 years, New World is a must-play. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's starmetal to mine, and I'm almost ready to craft a new bag.
Get ready, achievement hunters! Epic Games is rolling out its achievement program this week on a handful of games available in the Epic Game Store. Dubbed Epic Achievements, this system takes familiar parts from other platforms and melds them together.
Epic's achievements are a bit of an amalgamation of what Xbox and PlayStation have for their digital rewards. Each game has a total of 1000 XP you can earn by playing, with more given upon completion. Every achievement gives a certain number of XP, and that amount determines the ranking of the award. Here's the breakdown:
Bronze = 5-45 XP
Silver = 50-95 XP
Gold = 100-200 XP
Platinum = 250 XP
Earning 1000 XP in a game will get you that coveted Platinum achievement, which slaps an additional 250 XP onto your Epic Games profile. The experience gained goes into a profile leveling system, kind of like what Sony does with PlayStation trophies. There's no word on whether any of these achievements or levels grant any perks for in-game content, game discounts, or recognition outside of bragging rights between friends, but it's nice to have included on Epic Games' launcher.
Epic Achievements are going to start showing up next week on a healthy list of first-round games, including Kena: Bridge of Spirits, Hades, Alan Wake Remastered, Rocket League, Pillars of Eternity, Zombie Army 4, and more. Epic says it's "working to get these tools to more developers, so you can expect to see Epic Achievements popping up in your favorite games later this year." It should also be noted that while Epic has made tools for "developer achievements" available in Epic Store titles, those will not automatically be transitioned to this new system. However, devs will have the ability to take those achievements and translate them to the new Epic version.
Are you ready to start building up your Epic Games Achievement levels? What games do you hope gets these awards next? Is it weird Fortnite isn't part of the initial list of games? Let us know in the comments!
Hamster – the Japanese company behind the excellent Arcade Archives series – has announced at the Tokyo Game Show that it is bringing four classic shmups to Switch, including Konami's Xexex.
Released in 1991, Xexex is held in very high regard by fans of the genre, and sadly never got a domestic port at the time of release (it would eventually resurface on the Japan-only Salamander Portable for PSP in 2007). It borrows elements of Konami's own Gradius series, as well as Irem's R-Type.
World of Warships: Legends introduces the first campaign with a ship of choice as the ultimate prize. It's backed by a Halloween event, split into two parts, and more new ships! Element of Choice Campaign The headliners of Element of Choice, Tier VII Premium destroyers Friesland and Loyang, are both quite unique. Pan-European Friesland doesn't […]
It was September, 2021 when it started. Kotaku editor-in-chief Patricia Hernandez asked me to handle a post, a story about a clicker game on Steam getting patched to allow cheating. What a fun, novel notion, certainly worthy of a story. No problems there. That was how my problems with Cookie Clicker began. I've now…
Queer Genshin Impact players have been eating well this month. During the gacha game's anniversary web event, playable character Chongyun blushed as he stood with another playable character, Xingqiu. Later during the Moonchase Festival main quest, Xingqiu offered to read a romance novel to him (despite being a…
A bunch of the Super Mario Sunshine modding community got together to make their favorite game even better. The result is Super Mario Eclipse, a massive mod that expands Mario's Isle Delfino adventure with new moves, new worlds, new playable characters, and a whole new story. The first demo for Eclipse dropped late…
Over the weekend, Sony rolled out some new game trials to let PS5 owners try out specific games before actually committing to a purchase. It sounded great, but players soon discovered a hitch: The trials are for a limited time, and the clock starts ticking the second you click download.
Capcom, widely known as one of the most prominent developers of third-party console games dating as far back as the NES, appears poised to shift its focus. The company has noticed its ever-growing PC gaming audience and global sales numbers, and is planning on making the PC its "main platform."
Far Cry games seemingly exist in the same universe, based on characters like Hurk appearing in multiple games, and their referencing past events from older titles. While Ubisoft has gone on to connect the games officially using recurring characters, fans had their own unofficial theory about a certain bad guy from Far…
It's impossible to overstate how enjoyable RTS games can be. There are few things as satisfying as building up an immense army and simply washing over your foes like a river over stones, erasing their existence as effortlessly as a click. If you're looking for a broader list of the best strategy games then we've got a separate list for that - this one's all about real-time, where you can't hide behind the safety of turn-based strategy's pace.
The genre is largely defined by the likes of Starcraft and Age of Empires, but Indie games like Northgard and Driftland have shown there's plenty of other voices to be heard. There's also plenty to celebrate in games that are technically real-time, but not strictly speaking considered 'RTS'.
The rise of MOBAs has challenged the RTS scene quite significantly over the past decade, but this hasn't stopped some worthy games rising to the top ranks to earn their own place the hall of fame. Here's our take on the best RTS games on PC, though we're skewing more towards newer releases because, honestly, we all know how good Homeworld was by now.
It's almost time to dig into Battlefield 2042, as the open beta kicks off this week. If you want to get in the instant servers are live, then there's good news - EA and DICE have announced the precise Battlefield 2042 open beta releases times, along with pre-load details so you can get playing as soon as possible.
Battlefield 2042 open beta pre-loads will begin on October 5 at 12am PDT / 3am EDT / 8am BST across all platforms. On PC, that includes Steam, Epic, Origin, and the EA app. The system requirements for the beta recommend 100GB of hard drive space, so be prepared for a fairly beefy download.
General access to the open beta will begin on October 8 at 12am PDT / 3am EDT / 8am BST on all platforms, and concludes on October 9. If you've pre-ordered the game, or you're a member of the EA Play subscription service, you'll be able to get in starting October 6 at 12am PDT / 3am EDT / 8am BST.
The release of Back 4 Blood is hotly anticipated, with just over a week to go until the game's October 12 release date. However, developer Turtle Rock recently made a controversial addition to the game in the form of Denuvo Anti-Tamper DRM. SteamDB logs indicate that the change was made on September 28 with no comment or update from the developer.
Digital rights management is something PC gamers have lived with for decades, with the likes of Steam making it more palatable and storefronts like GOG offering DRM-free options of many current and legacy titles.
Despite this, Denuvo has garnered an infamous reputation for hampering the performance of games. The most recent egregious example of this was in the PC port of Resident Evil: Village, which saw pirated versions of the game without Denuvo running with far fewer performance problems.
As MMOs often do at launch, New World had busy servers and long queues to get in game last week. That's certainly not stopping folks from attempting to play though, as New World hit another concurrent player record for itself. It was already the most popular game on Steam last week with over 700,000 concurrent players. As of yesterday, New World's peak player count was nearly a million players. We don't know how many of those folks are hanging around in those server queues, of course, but they're all at least trying to play.
Epic Games are still in the process of getting their store and launcher hooked up with features you're used to from that other big digital games store. Next week they're adding one you might have been waiting for. Naw, it isn't the shopping cart. Not quite yet, anyway. In the nearest term, it's their achievements system that's getting its initial launch. As of next week, Epic will be rolling out Epic Achievements and XP for a handful of games including Hades, Rocket League, and Kena: Bridge Of Spirits.
The Genshin Impact 2.2 live stream happened this past weekend, and it gave us a look at a few new features, events, weapons, banners, and more that'll be coming to the game when the update goes live on Oct. 13. It's looking smaller than the August 2.1 update, but regardless, here's a rundown of everything we […]
The devs of Friday the 13th: the Game must be huge fans of Halloween, as their next game will reportedly be a Ghostbusters one. Granted, the Friday the 13th films are a degree of separation away from the more family-friendly Ghostbusters. No machete decapitations in the latter, that's for sure. But there's something to be said about a group of developers who are consistently dealing with the spooky. There aren't any concrete details yet about what the Ghostbusters game could entail. But judging from Illfonic's previous games, it'll likely be a multiplayer game. Both of Illfonic's previous games, Friday the 13th and Predator: Hunting Grounds followed a similar format of a blood-hungry killer on the chase for prey. Ghosts from Ghostbusters may not be as gruesome, but there's certainly room for a cat-and-mouse game between ghost and ghostbuster. Something strange The news broke when Illfonic co-founder Raphael Saadiq accidentally slipped...
Another leak popped up this weekend regarding Intel's upcoming ARC Alchemist graphics cards. This time, we got a better look at the reference design courtesy of new efforts from tech leaker Moore's Law is Dead, who also provided images of early test models. These latest images are renders created in collaboration with sources at Intel to show what to expect when the lineup launches next year. Moore's Law is Dead claims this render is specifically of the flagship 512 execution unit model. It's based on the current test designs, with an expectation that the final design will be largely similar. It's nothing too flashy, but it certainly looks like something we'd expect Intel to come up with. The simple design might even work to the advantage of consumers not interested in paying for expensive coolers and high end aesthetics. Like many reference card designs, these are also going to be compact in order to accommodate as many builds as possible, partic...
Valheim's anticipated Hearth & Home update finally touched down around two weeks ago. Naturally, the developers at Iron Gate AB are still busy with tweaks to get it just right. However, that doesn't mean the team can't spend just a little bit of time to get into the festive spirit. The latest Valheim patch will not only reduce stamina drain with melee weapons, but it comes with a Jack-o'-turnip you can craft to get into the Halloween mood. Actually, now that I think about it, what do you think the name of the holiday is in the world of Valheim? And why are there turnips big enough to carve out? Mysteries on mysteries. The Jack-o'-turnip does add some fun Halloween shenanigans with today's Valheim patch, but it probably isn't the draw. Probably. Mostly, the Valheim patch brings some needed changes to stamina drain and food stats. Hearth & Home altered the way health and stamina worked, as well as how food affected both. The new patch ...
Ahead of tomorrow's release, GameMill, Ludosity, and Fair Play Labs have shared a launch trailer for Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl. For those that need a refresher on the game, check out the following overview: Brawl it out as your favorite Nickelodeon characters in bombastic platform battles! With a power-packed cast of heroes from the Nickelodeon universe, face-off with all-stars from SpongeBob...
A new 1.0.8 update has gone live for R-Type Final 2 in Japan. NIS America and Granzella have issued the patch for all players. New content and features have been added for the shoot 'em up, including a new batch of ships and gallery images. The game's stability has also been improved. Below are the full patch notes for the...
PC? Check. Steering wheel? Check. Now all you've got to do is decide which racing game to play. Check out our list of the best racing games available on PC.
The start of the week for RuneScape is once again full of all sorts of different things for players in the game's latest update. At the top of the list is another set of quality-of-life changes applied by the Ninjas, including a bank interface toggle for switching tabs when dropping items, fine-tuning for the clickboxes […]
For those who are clamoring for new Pantheon reveals and vocally frustrated that they don't get to see more, Visionary Realms would like to invite you to the other side of the curtain, where a whole lot of thinking and discussion goes into showing off and promoting the game. Perhaps more than you'd assume at […]
For those who somehow haven't noticed, the COVID-19 pandemic didn't go away. We're still very much in the middle of it here in the US, with on average 100,000 cases and 2,000 deaths a day. Parts of Europe aren't faring any better. Given that, it might surprise you to know that Valve was planning to […]
This past August Embers Adrift offered up a progress report on its development on a number of items, and the devs at Stormhaven Studios are sharing yet another wrap-up for September, outlining another set of adjustments and updates made to the game as it continues its rebrand away from Saga of Lucimia. Much like the […]
We've been using PDP products for years, but this is the first time a Victrix branded product has come to our attention. An engineering and design company owned by PDP and based out of San Diego, the big V look to provide gamers with products that can give them a competitive edge. And that means launching the world's fastest Xbox controller alongside a rather tasty looking wireless headset.
What's up all? We have another great giveaway from Giveaway.su for Memory Booster. Read on for their offering. A new giveaway of a new game! Today we are giving away 5000 Steam keys for "Memory Booster" game. There are thousands of users who wants to claim free key, so hurry up to grab one! Steam account with level 1 account and Discord account are required to get the key from th...
What's up folks? We have another remarkable offer from Alienware Arena for Adventures of Chris. Let's hear them out. Adventures of Chris Free Play Weekend Key Giveaway Embark on a global adventure in this '90s-inspired adventure platformer! Play Adventures of Chris for free on Steam until October 11th when the game will leave your library. A few words about Adventures of Chris Em...
The devs of Friday the 13th: the Game must be huge fans of Halloween, as their next game will reportedly be a Ghostbusters one. Granted, the Friday the 13th films are a degree of separation away from the more family-friendly Ghostbusters. No machete decapitations in the latter, that's for sure. But there's something to be said about a group of developers who are consistently dealing with the spooky. There aren't any concrete details yet about what the Ghostbusters game could entail. But judging from Illfonic's previous games, it'll likely be a multiplayer game. Both of Illfonic's previous games, Friday the 13th and Predator: Hunting Grounds followed a similar format of a blood-hungry killer on the chase for prey. Ghosts from Ghostbusters may not be as gruesome, but there's certainly room for a cat-and-mouse game between ghost and ghostbuster. Something strange The news broke when Illfonic co-founder Raphael Saadiq accidentally slipped... 
Another leak popped up this weekend regarding Intel's upcoming ARC Alchemist graphics cards. This time, we got a better look at the reference design courtesy of new efforts from tech leaker Moore's Law is Dead, who also provided images of early test models. These latest images are renders created in collaboration with sources at Intel to show what to expect when the lineup launches next year. Moore's Law is Dead claims this render is specifically of the flagship 512 execution unit model. It's based on the current test designs, with an expectation that the final design will be largely similar. It's nothing too flashy, but it certainly looks like something we'd expect Intel to come up with. The simple design might even work to the advantage of consumers not interested in paying for expensive coolers and high end aesthetics. Like many reference card designs, these are also going to be compact in order to accommodate as many builds as possible, partic... 
Valheim's anticipated Hearth & Home update finally touched down around two weeks ago. Naturally, the developers at Iron Gate AB are still busy with tweaks to get it just right. However, that doesn't mean the team can't spend just a little bit of time to get into the festive spirit. The latest Valheim patch will not only reduce stamina drain with melee weapons, but it comes with a Jack-o'-turnip you can craft to get into the Halloween mood. Actually, now that I think about it, what do you think the name of the holiday is in the world of Valheim? And why are there turnips big enough to carve out? Mysteries on mysteries. The Jack-o'-turnip does add some fun Halloween shenanigans with today's Valheim patch, but it probably isn't the draw. Probably. Mostly, the Valheim patch brings some needed changes to stamina drain and food stats. Hearth & Home altered the way health and stamina worked, as well as how food affected both. The new patch ... 
